The Fatal News
What was "information" in the early eighteenth century, and what influence did the emergence of information, as potential physical and psychological threat, have on readers of the period? Recent scholarship in eighteenth-century print culture and in twenty-first-century media studies and theory offe...
Wedi'i Gadw mewn:
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| Fformat: | Online |
| Iaith: | Saesneg |
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Taylor & Francis
2025
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| Pynciau: | |
| Mynediad Ar-lein: | ONIX_20250530T122022_9781135502447_36 |
| Tagiau: |
Dim Tagiau, Byddwch y cyntaf i dagio'r cofnod hwn!
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| _version_ | 1869521311615680512 |
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| author | Ellison, Katherine E. |
| author_browse | Ellison, Katherine E. |
| author_facet | Ellison, Katherine E. |
| author_sort | Ellison, Katherine E. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | What was "information" in the early eighteenth century, and what influence did the emergence of information, as potential physical and psychological threat, have on readers of the period? Recent scholarship in eighteenth-century print culture and in twenty-first-century media studies and theory offers a unique opportunity to reconsider how and why information is figuratively imagined during the eighteenth century as an abstract yet bodily entity that can flood, suffocate, and incapacitate readers. Focusing on 1678 to 1722 -- a period that experienced impressive innovations in communication -- this study reveals that the term "information" undergoes a significant transformation with social, cultural, and literary consequences. By investigating discussions of information and media that are evident in works by literary authors, the author finds that writers like John Bunyan, Aphra Behn, Jonathan Swift, and Daniel Defoe confront the idea of information overload and provide case studies in literacy reform that operate on institutional, generic, and consumer levels. For example, while in Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year information is infectious and citizens depend upon comets and phantoms to construct reader-controlled, decentralized media, in Swift's Tale of a Tub commonplace books and collections demonstrate a new type of organizational, or secretarial, impulse in society. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-160891 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| publisherStr | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1608912025-05-31T05:27:58Z The Fatal News Ellison, Katherine E. Pilgrims Progress pilgrims Fatal News progress Swifts Narrator swifts Follow narrator Word Of Mouth celestial Celestial City city Interpreters House pilgrim Young Man foes Information Multiplicity defoes Plague’s Approach journal Information Overload Town Discourse Doubting Castle Virus’s Apparent Movement Private Courier Portrait Of A Man Night Watchman Narrators Anxieties Christians Journey Due Preparations thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies What was "information" in the early eighteenth century, and what influence did the emergence of information, as potential physical and psychological threat, have on readers of the period? Recent scholarship in eighteenth-century print culture and in twenty-first-century media studies and theory offers a unique opportunity to reconsider how and why information is figuratively imagined during the eighteenth century as an abstract yet bodily entity that can flood, suffocate, and incapacitate readers. Focusing on 1678 to 1722 -- a period that experienced impressive innovations in communication -- this study reveals that the term "information" undergoes a significant transformation with social, cultural, and literary consequences. By investigating discussions of information and media that are evident in works by literary authors, the author finds that writers like John Bunyan, Aphra Behn, Jonathan Swift, and Daniel Defoe confront the idea of information overload and provide case studies in literacy reform that operate on institutional, generic, and consumer levels. For example, while in Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year information is infectious and citizens depend upon comets and phantoms to construct reader-controlled, decentralized media, in Swift's Tale of a Tub commonplace books and collections demonstrate a new type of organizational, or secretarial, impulse in society. 2025-05-31T05:27:57Z 2025-05-31T05:27:57Z 2025-05-30T10:25:55Z 2005 book ONIX_20250530T122022_9781135502447_36 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/103190 9781135502447 9781135502515 9780203959688 9781135502584 9780415867269 9780415976268 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/160891 eng Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/103190/1/9781135502447.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/9780203959688 10.4324/9780203959688 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 9781135502447 9781135502515 9780203959688 9781135502584 9780415867269 9780415976268 Routledge 168 Oxford open access |
| spellingShingle | Pilgrims Progress pilgrims Fatal News progress Swifts Narrator swifts Follow narrator Word Of Mouth celestial Celestial City city Interpreters House pilgrim Young Man foes Information Multiplicity defoes Plague’s Approach journal Information Overload Town Discourse Doubting Castle Virus’s Apparent Movement Private Courier Portrait Of A Man Night Watchman Narrators Anxieties Christians Journey Due Preparations thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies Ellison, Katherine E. The Fatal News |
| title | The Fatal News |
| title_full | The Fatal News |
| title_fullStr | The Fatal News |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Fatal News |
| title_short | The Fatal News |
| title_sort | fatal news |
| topic | Pilgrims Progress pilgrims Fatal News progress Swifts Narrator swifts Follow narrator Word Of Mouth celestial Celestial City city Interpreters House pilgrim Young Man foes Information Multiplicity defoes Plague’s Approach journal Information Overload Town Discourse Doubting Castle Virus’s Apparent Movement Private Courier Portrait Of A Man Night Watchman Narrators Anxieties Christians Journey Due Preparations thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies |
| topic_facet | Pilgrims Progress pilgrims Fatal News progress Swifts Narrator swifts Follow narrator Word Of Mouth celestial Celestial City city Interpreters House pilgrim Young Man foes Information Multiplicity defoes Plague’s Approach journal Information Overload Town Discourse Doubting Castle Virus’s Apparent Movement Private Courier Portrait Of A Man Night Watchman Narrators Anxieties Christians Journey Due Preparations thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies |
| url | ONIX_20250530T122022_9781135502447_36 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ellisonkatherinee thefatalnews AT ellisonkatherinee fatalnews |